MicroPass sticker wants to turn your phone into a super wallet

Like you, I'm really getting used to hear over-cooked terms such as electronic wallet, contacless payment, NFC, etc. It's like eating a piece of bacon, which has been fried so many times over then lost its basic taste...

That's my first impression when I read the news about Inside Contactless' technology called MicroPass, but unlike any other contactless payment; the French based company uses different kind of technology:

"We're using a microprocessor with open-standard security techniques, not a fixed memory, proprietary security scheme like Mifare Classic", said Charles Walton, executive vice president of the payments business at Inside Contactless. The applications implemented using MicroPass "cannot be cloned (in that way)."

But that's not what interest me most, the exciting part is that MicroPass technology is embedded into a sticker that can then be affixed to a phone, wallet, or any devices you like. Like you can see in the picture there, all we need to do is attached the MicroPass sticker on our mobile phones and automatically turn them into NFC-like capable mobile phones. No need anymore to purchase a specially designed phone with NFC chip installed within it.

Inside Contacless has entered the U.S. bank card market with a microprocessor-based chip in 2005 and is backed by Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, recently announced that Colorado Plastics will be producing stickers using the MicroPass technology.

"It's a cool way to pay; convenient," said Charles Walton, "It turns the phone into a super wallet."

Alright, I'm buying the neat idea. But I believe, we need to see how convenient it is for MicroPass to be used in our daily lives. And of course, can it be accepted by vendors who'll provide the payment points? Usually time will tell, but like any other contacless payments out there; this MicroPass technology is taking too long to be popular. Will it turn out to be just another vapor-ware idea?

Source is from CNet Wireless blog, picture is courtesy of Inside Contactless.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]